Protective covering for safety straps medical equipment

ABSTRACT

A disposable cover for medical safety straps. This disposable protective cover is slipped over the existing safety strap prior to being used to secure a patients&#39; body to a medical table for a procedure, allowing the strap to be protected from infected bodily fluids.

The present application is a continuation of the United States non-utility patent application Ser. No. 13/485,833 dated May 31, 2012 entitled: Protective covering for medical equipment safety straps, which since has been abandoned, which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/620,311 dated Apr. 4, 2012 entitled: Protective covering for medical equipment safety straps each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 2005/0108825, filed May 2005; U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 2005/0284488, filed December 2005; U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 2008/0039755, filed February 2008; and U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 2010/0236287. U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,586, issued June 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,874, issued March 1985; U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,542, issued September 1991; U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,496, issued November 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,518,009, issued May 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,244, issued April 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,725, issued September 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,429, issued October 2003; U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,018, issued August 2005, the subject matter of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORDED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not Applicable

BACKROUND

Safety straps on medical equipment and/or procedural tables are used in a variety of medical settings i.e. CT scan tables, MRI tables, Cardiac Cath Lab tables and GI procedure tables. Medical personnel must use straps to secure patients to the table so that the patient does not fall off and incur further injury. Although effective, one commonly over looked risk is the multiple uses of these straps after being contaminated with communicable diseases by infected patients. Currently these straps are not constantly disinfected and/or cleaned regularly due to the time consumption due to cleaning, even when there is a clear exposure to bodily fluids. This increases the patients risk of being exposed to other infections not related to their current stay, and could possibly become detrimental to the patients health if the patients immune system is compromised. Health Care-Associated Infections increase a facilities outward cost.

Approximately 2 million patients each year in the United States alone are affected by Health-care associated infections. This staggering number results in an estimated 90,000 deaths and an estimated $4.5-$5.7 billion dollars per year in additional health related costs to facilities for extended health care and/or death related lawsuits. Although it is nearly impossible to pinpoint where an infection origin's derived from, it is the facilities duty/responsibility to ensure that the patient environment is a clean and contaminate free to the best of their ability.

SUMMARY

The present invention addresses this problem. Procedural table Safety Straps are regularly used but not regularly cleaned which can have an adverse affect if the patient becomes infected with a health-care associated infection. Medical personal attempt to disinfect the straps by using an anti-microbial cleaner and/or laundering when they believe the straps have been contaminated. This takes up valuable time and is not always effective. An embodiment of the invention is a protective covering made of flexible impermeable material with a series of hook-and-loop fasteners. This is a preferred method of limiting the introduction of bodily fluids or skin contact with procedural table safety straps.

An embodiment of the invention is a method of protecting a patient from Health-care associated infections by reducing the exposure to possible contaminates previously left behind on infected safety straps while maintaining the integrity (security) of the safety strap.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an inside open view of the cover to show hook-and-loop placement.

FIG. 2 depicts an inside open view of the cover to show hook-and-loop placement.

FIG. 3 depicts an outside open view of the cover to show the placement of the loop side fastener.

FIG. 4 depicts an outside open view of the cover to show the placement of the hook side fastener.

FIG. 5 depicts the assembly of the cover whereby two sides are sealed.

FIG. 6 depicts the assembly of the cover whereby two sides are sealed.

FIG. 7 depicts the outside view of finished safety strap cover.

FIG. 8 depicts the outside view of finished safety strap cover.

FIG. 9 depicts the inside view of the cover to display the placements of the hook-and-loop fasteners.

FIG. 10 depicts the relationship of the inside hook-and-loop fasteners to the hook-and-loop fasteners of the outside of the cover.

FIG. 11 depicts the relationship of the inside hook-and-loop fasteners to the hook-and-loop fasteners of the outside of the cover.

DRAWING REFERENCE NUMBERS

20 Cover

21 a Loop fastener (outside cover)

21 b Loop fastener (inside open edge)

22 a Hook fastener (outside cover)

22 b Hook fastener (inside open edge)

23 Open end

24 Sealed end

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

One embodiment of the cover is illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 inside view. The cover is the open view of the cover 20 with the placement of the inside hook-and-loop fasteners 21 b and 22 b. The cover consists of any material impermeable to fluids the preferred embodiment of the material is plastic. The cover 20 can be cut into various sizes to accommodate the different sizes of safety straps. At the open end 23 of the cover the hook-and-loop fasteners 21 b and 22 b are placed for fastening opposed edge portions of the safety strap. The other three sides will be closed 24 to seal the cover.

FIGS. 3 and 4 depicts a view of the outside of the cover. This view depicts the outer cover 20 and placement of hook-and-loop fasteners 21 a and 22 a before the ends are sealed 24.

FIG. 5 depicts the inside embodiment of the cover in the process of being sealed 24 to depict what will be the inside of the cover. The hook-and-loop fasteners 21 b and 22 b of the inside will adhere to the safety straps.

FIG. 6 depicts the outside embodiment of the cover in the process of being sealed 24 to depict what will be the outside of the cover with the hook or loop fastener 22 a which will allow the covers to fasten to each other. It also depicts the placement of the inside hook-and-loop fastener 21 b in accordance to the placement of the outside hook-and-loop fastener 22 a before cover is sealed on three sides 24.

FIGS. 7 and 8 depicts the outside embodiment of each cover once the three sides 24 are sealed. It shows the placement of the hook and loop fasteners 21 a and 22 a on the outside of the covers and how they intend to adhere to each other.

FIG. 9 depicts to embodiment of an open view of the cover after being sealed 24 displaying the placement of the inside hook-and-loop fasteners 21 b and 22 b in accordance with the placement to the open end 23.

FIGS. 10 and 11 depicts a finished set of covers with the placement of the hook-and-loop fasteners 21 b and 22 b in the inside of the open end 23 that will adhere to the safety strap, as well as on the hook-and-loop fasteners 21 a and 22 a on the outside that will adhere to adjacent cover. 

1. A set of disposable protective covers for safety straps that are used to secure patients to medical equipment and/or procedural tables from possible contamination by infected bodily fluids, the covers are quickly and easily secured and removed while maintaining the integrity (security) of the safety strap, comprising: of a length of disposable flexible impermeable material, and hook-and-loop fasteners.
 2. The disposable cover in claim 1 wherein the hook-and-loop fasteners of the medical table safety strap attach to the inside of the disposable covers hook-and-loop fasteners, and the hook-and loop fasteners on the outer portion of the disposable cover attach to the opposite adjacent cover to hold the patients' body securely to the medical table.
 3. The disposable cover in claim 1 wherein the covers are disposable and can be safely remover by the operator after each use, eliminating the contamination of the medical table safety straps.
 4. The disposable cover in claim 1 wherein the covers are flexible, and impermeable to infectious bodily fluids, thus eliminating the transfer of infectious bodily fluids and cross contamination from the medical table safety strap to the patient.
 5. The disposable cover in claim 1 wherein the covers are slipped over the medical table safety strap and secured by the hook and loop fasteners at the base of the medical table safety strap and can be removed and replaced for the next use of the medical table.
 6. A method of securing the disposable cover to the safety strap, comprising: a.) providing a medical table safety strap with a disposable cover comprising of a flexible impermeable material having hook and loop fasteners on the inside edge thereof, and opposite hook and loop fasteners on the outside of the each individual cover; b.) providing a medical table safety strap with hook and loop fasteners, the disposable cover is slipped over the medical table safety strap and is secured by the hook and loop fasteners on the inside edge of the cover; c.) providing the disposable covers are secured to the medical table safety strap, the disposable covers are then able to be attached to the opposed disposable cover by joining the hook and loop fasteners on the outside of the opposed disposable covers and; d.) once used, the disposable covers are removed and discarded taking all contaminates with the covers. 